with all the strength of a raging fire
by purinsesu-sereniti
Summary: everything changed when the fire nation attacked & took control of the world. when a summons for war comes for her injured, aging father, katara can't allow him to go to what will surely be his death on the battlefield. so she takes his armor & heads for the fire nation, where she joins the banished prince zuko's group of soldiers- ones he hopes will help him earn back his honor.
1. Chapter 1

When she had run off to war, she hadn't known what to expect.

But here she was, trapped in a world she didn't know or understand, just trying her best to fit in. Reaching up, she bruhed her hand through her newly cropped, dark locks, wishing for a single moment that she'd not cut off the hair she had always loved. But this... This was for her father, for her family, and her home... For those things she would do anything. Even if it meant cutting off her hair and pretending to be a man. Even if it meant laying down her life on the battlefield.

Katara could still yet recall when the summons to war had come; all families with an able bodied man were called forth to battle. But she could not let her father go, she couldn't allow him to come to harm too. After all that they had lost these last few years, she could not put her father through the toils of war as well. It had only been a few months since Sokka's return from his own time at war, returned early due to injury. He was lucky to be alive, in truth. And their father... Once a war hero in his own right, but injured years before, unable to hardly walk in his older years. How could a man such as him return to war? But he would have been forced to, since Sokka's return was out of the question. She simply could not have let that happen.

And so that was how she found herself where she was right then: standing among a camp full of men, doing her very best not to stand out. She had a secret hope that she'd not even be needed, that perhaps she might get sent back home and all would be well... But, something told her she couldn't get that lucky.

"At attention men!"

Suddenly the call rang out and all around her the men hopped into a single file line, leaving her standing there out of place a moment longer than any of the others. She quickly joined in among the men, squishing herself between a man of considerable size and one of an astonishingly small stature, hoping to become invisible between the two. "Your commander..." The same voice went on and Katara could see a scrawny man with a notepad walking back and forth before the line, well dressed in the attire of a man from the court. "Prince Zuko." He held out a hand and a tall, well dressed young man appeared before them all, his golden eyes soft in his severe looking face. Behind him trailed another man, an older man who looked every inch a weathered soldier, with eyes shaped exactly the same as the prince so newly introduced to them. A few men were exchanging looks, but no one spoke up, and Katara could see as he approached why they looked the way they did. The prince had a wide scar that covered nearly an entire side of his face- it was amazing that his eye had not been injured too. In truth, it seemed amazing that he was even alive for the scar he wore looked nasty.

As he approached the group, Zuko could not help but to sigh. _These_ were the men sent to him to help defend their kingdom? Golden eyes swept along the crowd of men, a rag tag bunch that surely would make terrible soldiers, but he supposed he'd make do with what had had. Truth be told, he knew there wasn't a man out there he couldn't turn into a soldier. "Your training begins at daybreak." He spoke as he stood at the center of the group, hands clasped behind his back, looking out at the lot of them with what he hoped was a commanding face. "Disperse." He then gestured out at the men, unable to stop himself from catching the deep blue eyes of one young man in particular. _What striking eyes..._ He thought, noticing also how young the man looked, or rather how feminine... But his attention was torn from the young man a moment later and soon forgotten as his other duties took priority over the eyes of one of his soldiers.

"His face... I wonder what happened..." She could not help but to wonder aloud as the crowd dispersed, her eyes watching the retreating back of the prince. He had looked right at her, she knew she was not mistaken in that, and she swallowed down her fears of being caught. Surely he'd not noticed her already? Though... Now that she looked both to her left and to her right, she knew she probably stuck out like a sore thumb. She was, she realized, one of the only foreigners among the soldiers. Most every other man around her certainly came from the Fire Nation, though she could pick out a few Earth Kingdom men as well. The Northern Water tribes were far too proud to send their men out to fight alongside the Fire Nation.

She could still yet remember the days before the Fire Nation had attacked, before they had taken control of their little South Pole village. Back then when she'd still been small, they had lived happily in their village, but everything had changed that day the black ash fell. Then the Fire Nation had stormed the village and killed as many of them as they could get their hands on. Her own mother had been slain that day, killed in her own place, for they had come looking for waterbenders. And she... She was the last of them. The sole surviving waterbender of the South Pole. It was a bit scary to think that if any one around her found out she was a woman, surely they would kill her... But if they found out she was a waterbender, too? Who knew what would happen to her.

"It's not just the scar that they're whispering about. It's how he got it." A voice interrupted her thoughts and Katara turned to face the short man she'd been standing beside all that time. He had a strangely deep, rough voice for someone so small. "His father the Fire Lord gave him that scar when he was just a kid, you know." He went on, turning to look at her with dark eyes. "Agni kai against his own son." The man turned, catching sight of the prince just before he disappeared into his tent. "Never seen you before, kid," he turned back to face her then, those same dark eyes inspecting her from top to bottom. "I'm Yao."

As she opened her mouth to reply, she felt the warmth of a body and she spun, finding herself face to face with the large man from earlier, his smile warm as he looked down at her. "I'm Chien-Po," he said, his voice oddly sweet and soft for a man of such a size. As Katara looked back and forth from one man to the other, she again opened her mouth to speak but was yet again interrupted, this time to a fight breaking out to their left. "Oh, not again Ling," the man Chien-Po groaned, moving forward to push himself between a skinny, dark-haired man and another soldier, both looking angry, the skinny man cursing at his opponent. But then Chien-Po put his arms beneath his arm pits and drew him back to their small group, settling him down between them. "There now, there's no need to fight..."

"Meh, I could have taken him out," Yao grumbled beneath his breath and Ling lunged like he was going to attack the man, but Chien-Po had his arms around him a moment before he could attack. "Hey! You still didn't get a chance to introduce yourself!" Yao turned back to face Katara who froze as all three pairs of eyes swiveled to face her. Oh man, why hadn't she come up with a name for herself?

"I'm uh... I have a name... It's a boy's name too, you know!" She was internally screaming, hating herself for every word that she spoke. At least after this they would be so weirded out by her that maybe they would just leave her alone. "Ping!" She suddenly cried, a bit louder than she intended to, followed by an awkward sounding laugh. "Ping. My name is Ping." Relief washed over her as she gave herself kudos for coming up with such a believable name on the spot. It took a few minutes, but she finally was able to escape from the three men and disappear into her own tent, where she crashed onto the simple bed she'd made up just a few hours before. Day break would come sooner than she thought, so she supposed it was as good a time as ever to give in to sleep.

And just like that, her first day in a solider's camp was over.


	2. Chapter 2

She had been stupid to think she could do this.

Hiding her waterbending was easy, but training to be a solider? It was impossible. Hiding that she was a woman? That was nothing compared to the torment her training was. Zuko was relentless in his training- pushing his men further and further with every day that passed. Most of the men sailed along with ease, though it seemed like the three men that had become her "friends" were suffering just as much as she was. In truth, the only good thing that came from any of this were the little sneak peaks she would take at Zuko, with his chiseled muscles most often on display for them all to see. She couldn't help but to look, scar or not she found him to be quite the good looking young man.

Worse of all, she was certain everyone around her knew that she wasn't cut out for this, that she was never going to make it to war; even Zuko himself had told her to pack up and go home. But she couldn't do that... She couldn't return home yet. Not like this. She would never bring her family shame in such a way. And so, she supposed that was why she woke long before even day break, rising and dressing in the dark, tying her hair back in its simple bun as she always did every morning. But then she left her tent, crossing the army camp to stand before the tall pole that five days before, Zuko had shot an arrow up at the top of and handed out two golden weights to tie about your hands, insisting that both represented strength and discipline. Though all the men in the camp had tried, none had yet to achieve the goal of the arrow.

At least, not yet.

She would not be a failure, she would not be a disappointment. No, she would grow and she would become strong. Strong enough so she might protect both her home and her family. She would not lose. And so she had found both of the weights and tied them around her wrists before she slung them around the pole and made her first attempt at climbing... Bam! Back to the ground she tumbled, hard, but she got right back up and took a deep breath. She knew she could do it, no matter how many attempts it took. She maneuvered them again, this time getting it so the two weight's cords wrapped around one another and she realized as she pulled herself up onto the pole that this was how she would get it done.

And so, she began to climb.

Though every muscle in her body screamed out in protest, she climbed. And though she nearly tumbled back down a few times, she climbed on. And as the sun rose up over the horizon, as men stumbled from their tents in a sleepy stupor, she was pulling herself up to the top. She could hear their steady cheering as she climbed over the top and settled down, the arrow grasped tightly in her hand. Within her chest, her heart was beating, her every muscle aching now that she'd made it to the finish line. Katara looked down and saw Zuko slipping from his tent, clearly intrigued by the noise of his men just outside. With a grin, she tossed the arrow down, watching with joy as it struck point down at his feet, her grin only widening when the prince tipped his head back to look up at her there on the pole.

Of all his recruits, Zuko had never expected him to retrieve the arrow. Ping was his name, a strange name for a strange kid, he supposed. Listening to all the cheers go up for the kid, Zuko could not help but to smile as their eyes met and Ping raised his hand to give a little wave. He looked exhausted but happy. Happier than Zuko had ever seen any of his men since their arrival a few weeks before. He had given up on that one, to be honest, but maybe giving up on the young man was the wrong choice, clearly he was proving himself to be a whole lot more than he'd originally let on.

Maybe he had finally found a soldier to be proud of.

[ x x x ]

Ash was falling to the ground like snow.

For a single moment she was transported back, back to the moment when the Fire Nation had attacked her small village. Ash had fallen that day too, the day that her mother's life had been taken when it should have been hers. Katara could not force her legs to move as she stared out at the remnants of the village they were passing through. Yet another Earth Kingdom village destroyed by the Fire Lord's rogue army. These were the horrors of war that she already knew.

"Ping?"

Turning at the sound of her new name, Katara turned, surprised that it was Zuko that stood behind her. "Commander," she replied, sapphire hues narrowing ever so slightly before she turned back around to face the destruction. He stepped up close to her side then and Katara was well aware of how their arms brushed now that they stood side by side. She spared him a sidelong glance a moment later and was surprised to see the grief in his golden eyes as he too stared out at the charred remains of the village; Katara wondered if he knew how sad he looked.

"I noticed you were not with the others," he admitted a moment later, bringing reason to his joining her there on the hillside. "You have not yet seen a scene such as this, have you soldier?" Zuko asked, pivoting his body so he now faced her, focusing those same golden eyes upon hers.

 _I noticed you were not with the others..._ For a moment, the woman she was focused upon those words he spoke, her heart skipping a beat. "Only once," she replied, turning away from him then to focus her own gaze upon what once was someone's home, where a family had once lived in peace. "My own home was destroyed by your father's army when I was a little girl." She dared not speak much more than that, for fear of his discovering who she really was, but that little piece could surely do no harm. Besides, you'd have to be a real idiot if you thought she was from the Fire Nation, her looks alone gave her away as someone from the Water tribes. "So I have seen this once before but I was lucky to survive. Along with others in my village, we did not all die out so easily."

"I'm sorry," Zuko's words came quick and quiet, surprising her more than his very presence had. He turned to look at her again, mouth turned with a frown, looking as if there were more words that he wanted to say. But instead, he set his mouth and took a step back, turning as if to go. But then he turned back and reached out, his warm, strong hand clasping down upon her shoulder. Nothing was still yet said but Katara felt her heart beating faster within her chest as their eyes met. For a single fleeting moment, there was nothing but the two of them in the whole wide world. But then he drew back and the world swung back into motion around her. Zuko traipsed back across the hill, to where their small army had paused in their trek, leaving her to stand there a few moments longer in solitude.

But then she too retraced her steps back towards the group, rejoining the ranks of soldiers, well worn from their days of travel. "Let's move out." Zuko's voice called out and the men at once sprung to attention and back to traveling they went, but to where none of them could really say.

[ x x x ]

When their small army of men had finally come to a stop for the night, Katara found herself to be exhausted. It had been days since their last overnight stop and she wasn't certain she could walk another step. The men around her felt the same, she could read it on all of their faces, but not a single man complained aloud. In their short time together, the men had grown to respect Zuko as their commanding officer and thus would not speak ill of him or any of the choices that he made along the way.

It was late into the night and despite it all, Katara found she could not sleep. And so she left her tent, tiptoeing around all the others, careful to avoid waking any of her sleeping comrades. She quietly slipped away from the army camp to take refuge at the side of a trickling river, her body suddenly yearning for the touch of water. At the water's edge, she slipped her feet into the current, relishing in the feel of the cool water against her skin. Her every muscle ached with the need to bend, to feel the water between her fingers, to let the power of the moon flow through her... But even here, alone in the night, she dared not bend. The penalty was too great.

And so she waded further out, soaking her robes to the knees; reaching her hands into the river to cup the water in her palms, rising it up to splash the water against her bronzed skin. There in that moment she felt the most peace she had felt in weeks. Beneath the moon's pearly white glow, she felt safe.

He could not help from staring.

Zuko had never before felt such a draw to another human being. He found himself looking forward to their moments alone, enjoying both Ping's comapny and conversation. This moment felt private, as if he should not be staring, but Zuko couldn't help but want to know more about the young man. He wanted to know his every thought, far beyond those pertaining to war. Zuko knew there was more to Ping than he'd let on- those sapphire colored eyes had been the first giveaway. _He's from the Water tribes,_ his uncle had said back on that first day, when the boy's appearance had surprised many of the Fire Nation officials. He wasn't the only one of course, there were a few Water tribe natives within their ranks, but none that struck him like Ping did. Ever since that first day... He couldn't help but want to be near to him.

So, despite his nervous heart, Zuko stepped out from behind the tree lines and made his way towards the river bank. Ping, hearing his footsteps, turned from his place in the river and raised his hand in a wave. Back to the shore he walked, stepping out onto the edge and carefully wringing the dripping water from his robes. "Commander," came his usual greeting, his smile wide and bright in the moonlight. "It's late, you know. I thought everyone to be sleeping."

"I saw you leaving," Zuko admitted with a grin, shrugging his shoulders. "I wondered what could draw you from your bed so late after days upon days of travel." Ping chuckled as he dropped down onto the ground, gesturing for Zuko to join him, which he promptly did.

"I couldn't sleep, so I thought a dip in the water might help." Katara spoke softly, trying to maintain the voice that belonged to Ping. It was strange, living a life that was not hers all this time, sometimes it was hard to remember just who she was anymore.

"Do you miss it?"

The question caught her off guard and she swiveled to look at him, capturing the sight of his profile illuminated by the moonlight. For a moment, she didn't know how to respond, but then he turned to face her and their eyes met and suddenly Katara knew she could be honest with him. "More than anything." She said with a wry smile, turning her gaze back out to the river. "Though I miss my family more." A deep sadness was taking root but she fought against it, knowing better than to show the emotions she felt inside.

"I'm sorry." Zuko's apology surprised her the second time as much as it had the first time. "Sometimes I forget what my soldiers have to leave behind to come and fight for me or for my father." He sighed, knowing all he had given up was nothing compared to some of his men. But, he missed people too. "I lost my mother when I was a kid," he found himself to be speaking on, explaining to Ping the mystery that was his mother's disappearance. "This war does nothing but tear families apart..." He spoke quietly now, hands clenched into fists as he fought to find the words to say. "I never wanted to be a part of this, but my father..." He raised a hand, gesturing towards the scar upon his face. He fell silent then, head bowed for several long moments, at least until he felt the warm pressure of hand on his own shoulder. Raising his face, Zuko turned to look at Ping, who was smiling in his direction, a smile that offered him just a little bit of hope.

"We all have duties to our fathers," Katara heard herself saying, her hand still yet clasped on his shoulder. This moment felt so intimate and she found herself to be a little more than disappointed that she was not who she said she was to this man. "But it does not define you." She stood up, finally removing her hand from his shoulder as she drew herself to her full height. Zuko followed suit, towering over her with his tall, solid frame. "You can still choose your own path, if you wanted to." Her smile was fleeting and then she was gone, slipping away into the night with a racing heart.

Zuko remained there by the water a few minutes longer, unable to forget how it had felt to have his skin against his, even for a moment.


End file.
